Tazettas must be chilled? Who knew?

As I’ve never bothered to read the “planting and care” section of the Old House Gardens website, they kindly quoted it to me when I emailed them about forcing their tazettas (recommended for zone 8 and higher gardens). I figured I could force them in a vase of pebbles as I do paperwhites, with no chilling period. Four to six weeks, and I’d have flowers.

Oops, guess not. I have purchased Early Pearl and Grand Primo, and it looks like they will need chilling and maybe also need to be planted in soil, not pebbles. And I’ll have to wait for the bulbs to read the full instructions. A new forcing adventure! I wanted to try these because I’m always looking for variety in paperwhites, having become bored with the common Ziva early on, What is the difference between tazattas and paperwhites? I thought there was none. Huh. I’ll have to make room for these among the 40 or so hyacinths I’ll be forcing this year.

Comments

Good luck with forcing them, EAL. Some of the tazetta narcissus are recommended for the Central Texas landscape, including 'Grand Primo. The tazettas are pretty reliable here, EAL, while the lovely large flowered daffodils grown in the North usually give up after a year or two.

I received prechilled paperwhites as a gift a few years ago, and after they bloomed planted them outside. They rebloomed in 2006 and 2007, but don't seem to increase.

Hmmm. I always thought the point of the old-fashioned paperwhites was that they didn't require chilling and bloomed nicely in southern gardens where their other daffodils cousins fail. I have N. italicus and Grand Primo in the ground and they bloom fine without any fuss. On the other hand the Chinese Sacred Lilies have not and this year I dug them up so that I could chill them and see if that helps.

Scott Ogden mentions that paperwhites often need to be reset because they put their energies into offsetting rather than flowering when they are too shallow. I don't see where he mentions anything about a requirement for chilling. I may be reading carelessly.

Elizabeth Licata is an avid gardener, editor of Buffalo Spree magazine, and freelance writer specializing in art and gardening. She is one of the six bloggers of Garden Rant. Licata gardens in Buffalo, which can vary from 5-6a (in sheltered positions). Licata's most recent book is 100 Things to Do in Buffalo Before You Die.